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Larry Gies

$150 million donor | Gies College of Business namesake | Class of 1988

He’s the public face of the single largest donation ever made to the UI — $150 million for the College of Business.

She’s the reason he has a business, if you ask him.

We’ll let Madison Industries founder and CEO Larry Gies — of UI Gies College of Business name fame — do the bragging about his beloved Beth.

“Each day, I would sit on a bench outside during nice weather or inside on the foyer on a couch at the Kappa Alpha Theta house waiting for my girlfriend — now wife! — to come back from her classes,” Gies says. “We would then go study, grab dinner or go for a run.

“If it wasn’t for this specific relationship and this wonderful woman, I would not have this amazing person in my life today, three wonderful children and a business that is making the world safer, healthier and more productive.

“It should be noted that she worked three jobs in order for me to launch my business.”

Gies’ business, created in 1994, is one of the largest privately held companies in the world. His $150 million gift will allow the College of Business to double the amount of financial aid it provides students, Dean Jeffrey Brown said during October’s announcement.